Off to their best start since they opened the 1985-86 season with 16 wins, the Wolverines (14-0, 1-0) had no trouble in the Big Ten opener after breezing through the non-conference portion of their schedule.

They built a 21-point halftime lead with Burke and Hardaway Jr. leading the way and were never challenged by Northwestern (9-5, 0-1).

Advertisement

"14-0 that's a great start -- and 1-0 in the Big Ten -- but we've got to keep the attitude where guys are still doubting us," Burke said.

He'll get no argument from his coach.

"We're always working that way, like we're hunting all the time and we don't ever want to lose that," John Beilein said. "It's not a negative to always be working."

Michigan shot 59.6 percent overall and made 13 of 22 3-point attempts with the two guards doing most of the damage. Burke shot 9 of 16 overall and hit 4 of 6 3-pointers. Hardaway was 6 of 8 from the field and 4 of 5 from long range, and the ankle injury that kept him out of the previous game didn't seem to be an issue.

"Just to see him back out there after his injury," Burke said. "Back in action. Back in the groove. It was great."

Jared Swopshire and Kale Abrahamson each scored 11 points for Northwestern, but the Wildcats gave up the most points they have allowed this season while being outclassed by one of the nation's best teams.

"Eventually, we've got to start doing things that the coaches get on us about," guard Dave Sobolewski said. "We keep messing up the same things in the 1-3-1. We keep missing assignments. We keep falling asleep on defense. A lot of it will come down to heart and how bad we want it on defense mainly, too."

It was a sharp contrast from their two meetings last season, when Michigan needed overtime to win both games.

Then again, the Wildcats were short-handed.

Besides suspending guard JerShon Cobb for the season for violating team policy, they also shut down one of their best players, Drew Crawford, for the remainder of the season last month because of a shoulder injury.

Leading scorer Reggie Hearn sat out his second straight game because of a sprained ankle.